


The Stars and Beyond

by Kirausagni



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean Shiro (Voltron), Balmeran Hunk (Voltron), Canon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, Cliffhangers, F/M, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hunk's coming next chapter so don't think I forgot about him, M/M, Not Beta Read, Probably ooc, Slow Updates, be prepared, sorry - Freeform, switching POV, there's gonna be a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 20:17:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16226564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirausagni/pseuds/Kirausagni
Summary: Yeah, a Galra, four Alteans, a balmeran, and a human may not seem like a good deal, but what's the worst thing that could happen?





	The Stars and Beyond

_**It started with a shuttle, hurtling towards Earth. Of course, when she first saw it, Pidge didn’t know what it was.** _

 

 

Thin hands flipped through a small, green notebook. Eyes scanned over each page, delving into their theories then promptly declining them with a quick shake of her head. Those same eyes didn’t even bother to look over at the digital clock on the stand next to her bed. If they did, the girl would see the bright green numbers of _4:53_ flashing.

 

It had been a year and a half since Matt and her dad had been sent out on the Kerberos Mission. A year and three months since they were announced dead by the Garrison. But she knew, they were alive. The Garrison were covering up the mission, pretending like it never occurred. She wouldn’t stand for it.

 

So, once it was announced that they were dead, she began to plan out ways to figure out the truth of what really happened. There was once that she made it into the Garrison, from that expedition, she found that the team on the Kerberos mission were not dead, but abducted. After she had found this, Iverson banned her from the Garrison. He dragged her out, kicking and screaming.

 

She growled and chucked her notebook across the room towards her window, then flopped backwards and stared up at the ceiling. What could she do to get inside? Then, an idea struck her. Could she? She could…

 

With a sigh, Katie shook her head and pushed herself off her bed to grab her notebook. Bending over, she quickly snatched it up. When she straightened, there was a bright flash of light outside her window. The light was from something falling from the sky. Peeking at her calendar, she noted that there wasn’t supposed to be any meteor showers in the foreseeable future, and definitely not tonight. Tossing her notebook onto her bed, Katie jerked open her window and crawled outside. The shingles underneath her feet shifted with her weight being placed on them, but she ignored it.

 

Once she was stable, Katie squinted her eyes in the general direction of the light, but still couldn’t make out what it was. Making up her mind, she crawled back through the window, shut it and locked it. Nabbing her bag from her closet, Katie quickly shoved everything she might need for a quick adventure, and changed out of her nightgown. Instead, she wore her favorite green, white and yellow windbreaker and loose, black cargo pants. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, Katie slung the bag over her shoulder and peeked out her door. Her mother should have gone to bed hours ago, but lately, she had been drinking and staying up past when she normally went to sleep.

 

Not seeing any trace of her mother, Katie slipped out the door and down the stairs. Her mother was knocked out on the couch and the room stunk of alcohol. Plugging her nose, Pidge snuck past her mother and slipped out the door. Shifting so her bag was comfortably on her back, Katie mounted her bike that was leaning against the front of her house and looked back at her house one last time, realizing how much of a bad idea this was. No one would know where she was, and who knew what she was going to be seeing out there?

 

Her neighborhood was quiet, as it normally was. A lot of old people lived here, Katie wasn’t the biggest fan of them. The occasional bump against her bike kept her awake at the early hour, and after what felt like a constant loop of bumps and taking corners, she approached the edge of the desert. The main Garrison base was located almost right in the center, Katie would just have to avoid it like the plague and she would be all set.

 

From there on, she was on foot, using the lights from the Garrison base to keep track of where she was. Sweat dripped down her face and her feet ached, she didn’t know how long she was walking, but the sun hadn’t even begun to peek over the horizon yet, so she figured she was in the clear.

 

Her weighted feet brought her to a cliff face and in the valley under the cliff face, was a large dome. What had landed here? There was the sound of a hoverbike clicking off behind her, and she turned around. Too late. A piece of cold, hard metal was being held to the back of her neck, “Who are you and what do you want with this wreck?” A harsh voice asked from behind her.

 

Words spilled from her lips, barely being filtered by her brain, “Pidge Gunderson. I saw a bright light and came over here to investigate.” Katie relented, eyes shifting around nervously, “Please don’t report me to Iverson.” She pleaded.

 

The metal withdrew from her neck and Katie leaped back, towards the cliff face, away from the other person. This other person casually slung his blade over his shoulders and raised his eyebrows at her. Whoever this guy was, they weren’t human, not even close. His hair was a deep purple, almost black and large, cat-like ears stuck out from his head. His eyes glowed in the dark, light purple stared down at her, the eyes surrounded by yellow sclera.

 

“Are you from that building over there? Because if you are...” the threat wasn’t empty and Katie felt very much threatened by the words so she was quick to respond, “What? No. I was kicked off the campus after I broke…in…”

 

Sighing, the guy shook his head and extended his hand out to her, “Do you know what’s in there?” he asked her.

 

Glancing at his hand, she pushed herself up and dusted herself off, then shook her head, “No, I don’t.”

 

“I believe there’s two Alteans in there.” He said, ducking behind one of the rocks, with Katie quickly following suit.

 

“Alteans?” she asked, “Who- whats that?”

 

He sent her look that spoke volumes about how idiotic he thought she was being, “An alien race, look kinda like you guys, just with markings and...” his face twisted into confused disgust, “have really pointy ears.”

 

Golden brown eyes scanning over him, Katie raised an eyebrow, “And what are you, exactly?”

 

He shoved his hand towards his mouth, as if he was trying to hold in a laugh, “I’m a Galra, another alien species.” Nodding, Katie sent him a thumbs-up.

 

“So, you obviously didn’t want to just check this place out,” her eyes fixed themselves back onto the dome, “Why’d you come here, Stranger?”

 

“First off, it’s Keith. And second, I want to get them out.” Keith whispered, looking over the guards at the door. “Why do you want them out?” Katie asked.

 

“They know where a certain…weapon is. My affiliates and I need to find the- it.”

 

“Okay, so, is this weapon for good or-”

 

“Does it matter?” Keith snapped at her, “As long as it doesn’t fall into Galra hands, it’ll be fine.”

 

An eyebrow raising, Katie pointed at him, “But aren’t you Galra?” to which he sighed and responded, “The _bad_ Galra.” he elaborated.

 

“But how do _I_ know-” at this point, she was just doing it to annoy him, but it was fun; and getting on his nerves, “You don’t okay? Now you gon’ help me or no?” he growled.

 

Sighing Katie looked back towards him and nodded, “Yeah, sure, whadda’ need?”

 

“Can you drive that?” He pointed toward his hoverbike, “Yeah,” she nodded, “Of course I can.”

 

“Good,” Drawing his sword (knife?), “I’m going to break them out, then you are going to come and pick us up.”

 

Saluting lazily, a sleepy smile blossomed on her face, “Aye, Captain.”

 

Exchanging nods, Keith ran around the rock while Katie jogged towards the hoverbike. The keys were still in the ignition and she almost sighed in relief. This would be easy, it was an older model. Twisting the handle, Katie slowly brought it around so she could quickly drive it forward for them to escape.

 

 

_**It all started with a human. She had been quite helpful in that circumstance.** _

 

It was easy to knock out the two guards in the front of the dome and get inside. The inside was the hard part. From the main entrance, there was the main room of the dome, which had the ships inside. One look at these ships confirmed that the two aliens in the other room were Alteans. There were another two guards patrolling the perimeter of the inside, they were at opposite sides of the room at all times, so all Keith had to do was wait for one to pass, then rush the other one.

 

From there, he turned down a hallway all the way to the right of the dome, there were another two guards who were both quickly dispatched. From the other side of the door, Keith heard muffled shouting. He groaned and leaned back on his heels, preparing himself for the oncoming headache.

 

Taking the entry card for the room in front of him, he looked it over and quickly apologized to the guy’s friends and family. Then, with barely any hesitation, slid it through the lock and stood there, ready for a scientist to try to attack him. The door slid open with a hiss and he glowered at the six occupants in the room. The scientist closest to the door received a punch to his throat that was hard enough to knock him out, the next met a similar fate. One after another, they all hit the ground. One had pulled the alarm, which only got a quiet swear from Keith before he picked them up and threw them across the room.

 

One of the Alteans, the one with completely white hair and blue eyes, gawked at him from where he was tied down. Keith approached this one first and cut off the weak restraints with his knife, then turned towards the other Altean, an older man with a full head of black hair, and did the same thing.

 

Keith fixed the man with black hair and threw his arm around his shoulders, purple eyes glaring at the other Altean on the other side of the room, ‘ _Come and help me_ ’, it growled. Nodding, the Altean got the man’s other side and together they brought him outside. Just like he had expected, Pidge was sitting there, ready to go. She sent him a smile and a thumbs up.

 

“I’ll drive.” he said hurriedly, putting the man in between him and her so he was secure while the white-haired boy sat behind Pidge.

 

The girl turned around and smirked at the Altean, “Hold on tight.” she huffed sarcastically, “Shut your mouth, Gunderson.” Keith spat, revving the engine and roaring away.

 

After a good few minutes of weighing his choices, Keith decided to bring the group to his house. If Pidge went back, then she might tell someone about him and the Alteans. But, he had more people than he originally needed to pick-up. In the end, he decided to bring her to his home. Keith went the long away around, driving down spiraling cliff sides, short caves and eventually, they were parking in front of his ramshackle house, “Help me with this guy.” Keith muttered, slinging the other Altean’s arm around him. After nodding, she got his other side, and they dragged him to a beat down couch and laid him down there.

 

“Wait, wait! Hold up now, who are you guys?!” The one with white hair shouted, following the pair as they entered the shack.

 

Groaning, Keith looked over his shoulder towards him, “Pidge, take care of him,” he pointed to the man and she responded with an eye roll and quiet grumbling, but still leaned down to make sure he was okay. Meanwhile, Keith stalked up to the other Altean, shoulders back, strides wide.

 

“Who we are is none of your business, all I need to know is the location of the blue lion.” Keith spat, stopping three paces in front of him and crossing his arms.  


“Why would I give you the location of Blue?” The Altean growled right back, both were in defensive positions, ready to fight. Pidge looked up from the man she was treating, “Kei- Where’s your kitchen? He’s running a low fever, I want to cool him down.”

 

Not tearing his eyes from the Altean, he pointed to the arch behind him that led right into the kitchen. Muttering a thanks, she gave the pair one last glance and slipped into the kitchen. In his mind, Keith thanked her for not saying his name. Having some sort of advantage over this guy would help.

 

The two held their staring contest while the water in the kitchen ran for a minute, then Pidge walked back in with a soaked hand towel. She folded it and laid it across the other man’s head. Peeking past Keith, the other man talked directly to Pidge, “Is he okay?”

 

Not sparing him a glance, Pidge nodded, “Yeah, he just needs some rest. It can wait until tomorrow, right?”

 

Keith waved her off, “Unless you know how to scatter alien radio chatter...” he doubted it, but didn’t say that aloud.

 

Straightening herself, Pidge walked over to the pair and stood beside Keith, “I’m sure I could learn. Scattering the Garrison’s channels are easy enough.”

 

The Altean looked over her, impressed, “You think you can hack Galra channels?”

 

Pidge shrugged and looked back over her shoulder to make sure the man didn’t shift and throw off the towel on his head, “Definitely.”

 

Turning away from the door, Keith strolled farther into the house, “I’ll show you, come with me.”

 

When Pidge turned to leave, the Altean grabbed the frayed end of her sweatshirt, “I still don’t know who you guys are!” She looked at him with raised eyebrows, then looked to Keith who just sighed, then nodded, “I’m Pidge and the grumpy Galra over there is Keith.”

 

Smiling, the Altean bowed for Pidge, taking her hand and kissing it, “I’m Lance, that’s Shiro. It’s a pleasure.” a sly smile spread across his face and Pidge forcefully took back her hand, “Good to know.” she muttered, then followed Keith into the other room, Lance hot on her heels.

 

For the next hour, Keith explained the Galra’s radio broadcasts and their wavelengths. “If I know how to listen in to it, I can scatter it.” Pidge explained to Lance, who wondered what in the world they were talking about. In the end, they were able scatter the radio signals by using the Garrison’s signals to cover up the outgoing Galra broadcasts.

 

By then, the sun was just barely over the horizon line, but Pidge looked bothered by something, “You okay, Pidge?” Lanced pried while Keith made them breakfast. Blank eyes staring out the window behind him, she hummed, “Yeah, I’m fine, but if I’m not home soon, then my mom’s going to worry.” Pidge huffed, chin in her hands.

 

“Well, I mean, you could always go home-”

 

“No!”Keith interrupted him, “No one is leaving until we’re able to get to the blue lion, afterwards, you’re free to leave.” Harsh purple clashed with blue in a hostile meeting, “You can’t dictate what she does, Mullet.” Lance said, harshly.

 

“I’m fine with staying here for a little while longer, I mean…” Pidge sighed as Keith placed a paper plate in front of her, “At least one of you has some sense.” Keith quietly mumbled.

 

Going to Lance’s side, he slammed a plate in front of him, then went back to the stove, got his own plate and sat down between Pidge and Lance. Pidge dug into her food the second Keith sat down, the night before she didn’t eat dinner. (Well, it was more like her mother didn’t make dinner and Pidge didn’t feel like cooking) The eggs were cooked to perfection and the one piece of bacon was in a perfect limbo of burnt and perfectly cooked.

 

Through her shoving the food down her throat, Lance just stared in quiet shock while Keith just shrugged it off. Didn’t all humans eat like animals?

 

In the other room, there was a harsh cough that made Lance’s head snap up and sent his fork clattering to the ground. The screech of the chair against the wood floor caught Pidge’s attention and she also stood up to follow him to the living room. Keith was fast to follow.

 

In the living room, Shiro was sitting up, hand in a fist over his mouth and coughing, “Are you okay?” Lance asked, sitting on his heels in front of the couch.

 

“Your Majesty?” He looked around, eyes fixing on the human he could just barely see, “Where are we?”

 

_**He woke up to bright lights and a human in his face. As much as he loath to admit it, the only reason he’s alive was the Galra and human that came to save them.** _

 

Hours after Shiro woke up, Keith and Lance left the shack. Shiro fought against Lance’s word to stay there, afraid to leave him with an unknown Galra. While the two argued about it, Keith and Pidge watched on in amusement. The only reason Shiro bent to staying here was Pidge explaining that he had had a low fever and needed to rest.

 

Lance refused to hold onto Keith on the ride to where the blue lion was located, he still had respect for himself. He was an Altean prince, for quiznack’s sake. Closing his eyes, Lance felt around for Blue’s aura. It was one he knew well, as he had grown up around it. When they got closer to the edge of a valley, Lance began to feel the calming but suffocating aura of quintessence from the lion, “Over there.” Lance pointed out a gaping cave from that was around one klick away. Nodding, Keith fixed his direction to go towards the cave.

 

The pair dismounted off the bike and quickly walked through to the cave. It looked deep, something that mildly frightened Lance, but he would push through because he would be able to see an old friend. The farther in they walked, the more carvings and drawings Lance started to see. Curious as to what they were, Lance reached out and his fingers brushed against the simplistic carvings. The second his fingers brushed against a spiral painted on the wall, a surge of blue spread from his hands to every picture on the wall. It lit up everything in the cave, the light was comforting, “What did you touch!?” Keith shouted at him, clearly aggravated.

 

Lance crossed his arms and glared at him, “Just follow me.”

 

Leading him deeper and deeper into the cave, the deeper they went, the more suffocating Blue’s aura got. The now blue cave lit up the way to lion, the closer they got, the brighter the lights shone. The cave opened up into a large cavern, and in that large cavern was the gigantic blue lion shielded by a particle barrier. Breaking into a sprint, Lance ran up to Blue, “Been awhile, Bud.”

 

Keith stood in the entrance of the cavern, arms crossed, “Okay, now how do we get it out of here?” he asked.

 

Turning around, Lance smiled and wagged a figure at him, “Well, we have to have his paladin. Luckily for you,” he pointed to himself with his thumb, “He’s right here.”

 

“Yeah?” Keith raised an eyebrow, “Then why’s the shield still up, Smart Guy?”

 

Smirking at him, Lance whipped on his heel and knocked on the shield, then waited. After a minute, Keith sighed and shook his head. The exact second he finished the movement, where Lance knocked on the shield, it shone, then began to retreat back to Blue’s power source. Lance stood there with his hands on his hips and nose stuck in the air, “Told ya’.”

 

Blue’s jaw opened with a hiss and both of the aliens boarded, Lance taking a seat in the cockpit, Keith leaning on the seat behind him, “So how do you drive this thing?” he asked, looking down at the Altean frantically looking over all of the buttons, “To be honest?” he laughed, “I don’t exactly know.”

 

Keith looked down at him with a judging glare, “What? I thought you were the blue pala-”

 

While Keith was yelling at him, Lance was pressing all sorts of buttons until finally his hands came to rest on the main controls. Once his hands pressed down, Blue’s systems brightened, he tilted his head up and roared. Startled by the sudden movement, Keith’s eyes widened and his hands grasped for Lance’s seat, “We should go pick up Shiro back at your house.” Lance said, looking over at Keith, who still looked quite panicked, then he turned back to Blue, “You know the way, Boy?”

 

When all the screens and the dash glowed brighter, it showed that Blue understood. Keith finally regained his senses and glared at Lance, “You’re forgetting someone.” he growled.

 

Lance rolled his eyes, “Pidge can choose her own path, Mullet.” From there on out, the inside of Blue was silent. A tense silence hung in the air, sometimes, Lance would compliment Blue on something and gain an incredulous look from Keith.

 

Blue had brought them through the roof of the cavern and to Keith’s shack, Lance had had to hold in a quiet laugh after they broke the through the ground and Keith had been thrown back to the metal wall behind him. This just received Keith’s ears twitching and Lance received another glare from the Galra.

 

When they landed in front of Keith’s shack, Pidge and Shiro ran outside, one with a shocked expression and the other with a smile of pride. Both of the aliens exited the lion, one looking significantly more hurt than the other, “It’s great to see that you’re back, Your Majesty.” Shiro said, carefully watching the Galra walking behind Lance.

 

Pidge quietly laughed, “Whoa, Keith. Did the lion beat you up?”

 

“This idiot doesn’t know how to pilot his own lion.” He huffed, pointing to Lance, who was looking way too proud.

 

Shaking her head, Pidge turned to go back inside, “I’ll get you an ice pack, give me a second.”

 

“Pidge, wait! We have to leave like, right away. The Galra are going to notice Blue being missing.” Lance shouted after her.

 

Confirming Lance’s words, Shiro nodded and crossed his arms, “I’ll go get the pack, then we can go.” Pidge said, running inside. Both of Alteans glared over at Keith, Shiro’s glare especially harsh.

 

“How did you meet a human, _Galra_?” Shiro snapped at him.

 

At his spat words, Keith raised an eyebrow, “She helped _me_ get _you_ out, so stop complaining.”

 

The shack’s screen door swung open and Pidge came outside with a small bag filled with ice and a white fraying towel underneath it. Wrapping the towel around the bag, she handed it to Keith and turned to Shiro, who was staring at the two like they were a math problem he couldn’t solve. Muttering a thanks, Keith held the ice pack against his cheek, then placed it against his side, “Are you coming with us, Pidge?” Lance asked, waving for Shiro to follow them into the lion.

 

“Yeah, I am.” She said, following Lance as he strolled into the cockpit of the lion, Shiro following close on her heels.

 

“Don’t you have a family at home? Won’t they worry? I know if I was gone for a long while without saying anything, Adam would be horribly worried.” Shiro said, smiling at the human, who just shrugged in return.

 

“It’s only my mom, but she might not even notice me being gone…” Lance glanced at her from where he sat in the cockpit, it sounded like she wanted to add on something else, “And?” Keith asked, before Lance could.

 

“Well, actually my brother and my dad went missing on a mission last year, I need to find them and bring them home.” Pidge whispered, sitting on the ground next to where Keith was leaning against the wall.

 

Lance looked back outside the window with a smile on his face, “Have you made any progress on finding them?” he willed Blue to move forward, and at the lions sudden movements, Keith and Pidge slid down the walls they were against and hit the wall at the end while Shiro was holding onto Lance’s seat for dear life, “Sorry!” he called back, not looking towards them. (Which, to be fair, was the better choice. If he had chosen to, he’d see two glares full of hatred and dark promise fixed right on his head.)

 

The Blue lion bounded up into the sky and out of orbit, as well as continuing to fling Keith and Pidge around in the back. Every time they got the floor back beneath their feet, Blue would twist or take a sharp turn and they would collapse immediately down to the ground. At one point, Pidge had screamed at him, “Can you _stop_?”

 

To which he yelled back, guilt dripping from his voice, “Blue’s driving, not me!” and Keith snapped back with a, “Well then _take control_!” all the while Shiro’s face looked like he really didn’t want to be the only thing standing between two angry teenagers and Lance.

 

Head snapping towards him, Lance said, “I would, but I don’t know where he’s bringing us!”

 

The three other people on board groaned, “Your Majesty, if I may interject, how much do you trust the blue lion?” Shiro asked.

 

“With my life, he’s never failed me before, why would he deceive me now?” he reached a hand and pat Blue’s control panel. In return, Shiro just shrugged, “We don’t exactly know where he’s taking us...”

 

_**When he woke up, there was a small human caring for him. She didn’t really tell him about the complete circumstance.** _

 

Shiro tilted his head at the wormhole just outside Earth’s orbit, it was of Altean origin, did Blue open it? Another two loud bangs rang out behind him as the entire lion shook with a hit from the Galra cruiser that was next to them, “Where did these guys come from?!” Lance groaned.

 

“I don’t know, but go through the wormhole!” The Galran snapped at him, “At this point, we aren’t in good enough shape to battle, Lance.” the human agreed.

 

When they landed wherever Blue was taking them, Shiro would have to give her a good talking to about talking to Altean royalty. The Galran was fine, he had a feeling that no matter what he says to him that nothing will change his attitude. But maybe if he pointed out the girl’s mistakes, she would fix herself?

 

Activating his thrusters, Blue launched them through the wormhole and closed it just before the Galran cruiser behind them could get through. The wormhole launched them into orbit of another planet, one Shiro knew, “This is Arus.” he gasped.

 

“Arus?” Lance asked, staring at the older Altean. The Galran and human shakily stood up and walked towards Lance’s chair. Stiffening, Shiro looked down at the two of them. Man, they were short. The human was leaning on Lance’s armrest while the Galran stood behind her, a loose grip on his chair. All of them stood in amazement of the planet.

 

“The Castle of Lions should be here… Maybe that’s where Blue’s taking us?” Shiro wondered aloud, to which Lance nodded, “Maybe.”

 

The lion no longer threw the passengers around like rag dolls as they slowly came out of orbit. He landed in front of the large castle Shiro and Lance once called home, but there was a problem. No longer were the blue lights shining from inside, was the mainframe damaged? Wasn’t anyone still here?

 

“Last stop, everybody out!” Lance sung, backing away from the control panel and practically leaping out of his seat. Looking at each other, the human raised an eyebrow while the Galran just shrugged, then they followed. Shiro watched them go with a concerned look on his face, why would Blue bring them here?

 

Once Shiro walked out, Blue raised his head and roared. The human jumped backward and shouted in surprise as he swung his tail and shook his head. Around the group of people, the castle began to slowly go back online, lights turning on and shining a beautiful blue, “Think we should follow it?” Lance asked, pointing to the hall in front of the entrance that was slowly lighting up.

 

“What else are we supposed to do?” The Galra huffed, ears flicking forward.

 

Shoving a hand over her mouth, the human tried to stifle a laugh, “You act like a cat.” Crossing his arms, he whipped away from her, ears falling flat.

 

“I can’t hear anything inside.” he said to Shiro, who was watching them interact with a close eye.

 

With those words, they began their way inside, following the halls that lit up the second they walked near them. Lance was in the front, the Human was behind him, behind the human was the Galra and behind him was Shiro, “Hey, Shiro?” Lance asked, falling back to walk next to him. Nodding, Shiro confirmed he was listening.

 

“Do you think Allura and Coran are still here?” His eyes skirted the ceiling as Shiro held his eyes on the two in front of them. They were bickering about something. (What in the world did they mean? The Earth wasn’t _flat_.)

 

“I do believe your father placed them into the chambers before sending us away, so, possibly.” Shiro whispered.

 

Slowly, a smile spread onto Lance’s face, he could see his sister again after…How many years has it been? Shiro hummed in his thoughts, smiling as Lance ran forward to intervene in the previous argument. Looking away, Shiro’s eyes fixed themselves to the floor. How much of chance was there that Allura and Coran were alive? ‘Low’ he immediately told himself, then shook his head. It wouldn’t do anyone any good for him to be thinking like this. If the blue lion was on Earth, where was _Black_? _Yellow_? _Green_? _Red_? Maybe Allura would know…if she was alive.

 

A shout from ahead of him sent Shiro’s head snapping up, Lance had his finger in the Galra’s chest while the human was staring at the two from the sidelines, arms up and palms towards the two. Sighing, he strolled up to the group and separated them. On his left was the Galran and on his right, Lance and the human. In a way, he wanted to make sure the human wasn’t exposed to the Galra’s poisonous notions, so he placed her next to Lance. They began a super friendly conversation while the Galra had his arms crossed and was pouting. No guilt introduced itself to Shiro’s mind at his loneliness.

 

While he didn’t know where the pod room was, Shiro knew the relative location of it and these hallways seemed familiar. It only took him a few ticks to figure out that they were being led to the pod room. Did this mean…? No, he couldn’t get his hopes up just yet.

 

The arching doorway of the pod room confirmed his suspicions, not like he really wanted them to. Walking inside, the room was bathed in a harsh light, there was no signs of the soft blue like there was outside of the room. Lance gasped and walked ahead of everyone else, right to the control panel. Placing his hand on it, screens appeared all around him, “The castle is fully operational?” he asked under his breath.

 

There was a hissing sound that made the Galra and human back up, but Shiro walk farther into the room. Rising from the ground was one of the pods that normally healed the being inside. In this instance, it was being used to keep someone in and alive like it had done the past 10,000 years.

 

The glass protecting the person inside melted away and immediately, Lance ran over to her.

 

“Allura!” He shouted, holding her in his arms while he slowly shifted towards the steps below him. Beginning to shake her, Lance quietly chanted her name, just loud enough for her to hear.

 

Shiro helped Coran out of his respective chamber and sat him down on the steps. In Lance’s arms, Allura’s eyes peeked open, “...Lance?” She asked slowly, still groggy from sleep.

 

“Yes! Yes, Allura, it’s me! Lancey Lance!” he laughed, tears springing from his eyes. Her arms wrapped around him and they clutched onto each other like lifelines.

 

Sitting next to Coran, Shiro was rubbing his back and catching him up to speed on what had been happening and how many years they had been asleep. As everyone was talking, the Galran and human slowly made their way to the control panel in the center of the room. Allura’s eyes caught sight of the Galra and she shouted, “Galra intruders!” to which, Coran’s head snapped up.

 

The human’s eyes widened and she stood in front of the Galra, arms out, “He’s not gonna hurt anyone!” she shouted, as the Galra lowered himself into a battle position.

 

He whispered something to her and she glanced towards him, eyes flicking between the Alteans and the Galra behind her. With a sigh, she dropped her arms and backed away. The Galra straightened himself but still glared around, much like the human was doing, “We aren’t a danger to you.” He stated, calmly.

 

Turning both of his hands palms up, he showed them to every person in the room, “I’m not armed.” The human was staring intensely at the bottom the his back, so Shiro assumed that that statement was _not_ true, “I’m also not going to hurt you in anyway. Greenie over here can’t hurt you either way.”

 

‘Greenie’ looked offended at this statement, but didn’t say anything, settling a glare onto his back. Nodding towards Allura, Shiro stared intently at the Galra, “He helped Lance and I out of a research unit on Earth. If he wanted us dead, he would’ve killed us already.” Lance snorted and stuck up his nose, “Well, he could’ve _tried_ to.” to which Allura smacked the back of his head.

 

“Why are you here, Galra?” She asked, quickly standing up, Lance doing the same.

 

Pointing his chin up, the Galra smirked, “First off, I’m Keith,” He shoved a finger behind him, pointing towards the human who looked to be in a mix of cowering and ready to punch someone, “That’s Pidge.”

 

Sucking in a deep breath, Keith softened his eyes from a glare into a calm scowl, “I’m here to help reassemble Voltron. Kolivan believes I will be able to assist in some way...”

 

“Kolivan?” Allura asks, crossing her arms. Glancing over at her, Keith nodded, “Yes, he is the current head of… My associates.”

 

Nose scrunching up, Allura huffed, “How do you expect us to trust you when you can’t trust us?”

 

Tension seeped out of the two aliens, their glares equally harsh and scary. Neither of them wanted to back down from the other, didn’t want to show weakness. At this point in time, Shiro was just about done with these two’s fighting, it seemed like everyone else wanted this to end too. Lance and Pidge were shuffling around uncomfortably while Coran was trying to busy himself with inspecting the pods.

 

“Okay, I think that’s enough. Allura, Keith is trustworthy enough to keep him here for a few days, or until he accomplishes his missions. Then he and Pidge can go back to Earth.”

 

Two sharp voices rung out, “ _Excuse me_?!” But Shiro didn’t pay them any mind. Allura’s hand was on her chin, her face thoughtful, “I suppose…” Her head whipped up to Keith, “Any funny business and you’ll be out of here faster than you can say ‘Quiznack’.”

 

Shrugging, Keith smirked, “Message received loud and clear.”

 

Lance clapped his hands together, “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I would like to figure out why exactly me and Shiro woke up to some place that wasn’t Arus or Altea, in crashed ships, no less!” He cried.

 

“I may just have an answer to that question, Lance.” Allura smiled at him, then moved to walk out of the room, waving a hand to tell the rest to follow her.

 

The halls she led them through winded all around the castle, lights flickering on whenever they passed a bulb. Pidge seemed to be interested by every single electronic item they passed, asking excited questions about them to Coran who was more than happy to tell her about them, along with some dramatic stories. Behind them was Keith, who sometimes responded to Lance excitedly telling him things about old Altea. In front of them was Shiro calmly explaining everything he could to Allura.

 

_**At least she got her brother back.** _

 

Allura stood in the center of the room, on a slightly raised platform. In front of her was Coran, who was restarting all the main systems in the castle that could currently be rebooted. Behind her was the rest of the group. Lance, she trusted for sure, and Allura was sure that she could come to trust Pidge. But Keith was a completely different story, he was a _Galra_. The same race that murdered her father and destroyed her planet. She must have been scowling, because Allura heard what sounded to be Lance behind her softly calling, “Sister. _Sister_?”

 

“What? Oh yes, I’m fine.”

 

He didn’t even ask the question and she already knew what to say, was she truly _fine_ though? Pulling back, Lance crossed his arms and relaxed backwards onto his heels, “Princess!” Coran called, “The Castle is running on reserves at the moment, it will be a long time before we’re able to take off again. And that’s not even factoring in the time it would take to completely repair the ship.”

 

Groaning, Allura called up the command screens around her and began to flip through the screens. Red alerts blared in her face, making her grimace at the flashing lights, “Yes, of course. We’ll begin right away.” Three alerts in specific caught her arms and drew her eyebrows downward, “What the...” She muttered.

 

From behind her, Shiro asked, “What’s wrong Princess?”

 

⚠️ _**Red Lion not in Hangar ⚠️**_

 

⚠️ _**Green Lion not in Hangar ⚠️**_

 

⚠️ _**Yellow Lion not in Hangar ⚠️**_

 

“The rest of the lions…they aren’t in the castle.” Allura whispered, despair leaking from her voice.

 

Pidge shrugged, “Yeah, I kind of figured.” Crystal blue eyes dragged themselves over to the small girl talking, “I mean, when Lance told us he was Altean, I had a few questions. For one, the Blue Lion was obviously of Altean origin because he knew how to pilot him. Also, why would the Blue Lion be on Earth? Were all the other lions on Earth too, or just the one?”

 

Keith crossed his arms, “What are you implying right now?”

 

Turning towards him, Pidge sent him a cocky grin, “Every one of the lions are in different locations across the universe. Problem is...” her grin fell.

 

Shiro finished her sentence for her, “You don’t know how to find them.”

 

Quickly shaking her head, Pidge responded with, “I was hoping Lance could help."Allura tilted her head in questioning, “If my brother can’t help, maybe _I_ could...” her voice trailed off as she turned back to her controls. Behind her, Lance pouted and whispered, “I would’ve helped if you had asked.”

 

“Maybe… Perhaps I could track the lions. You brought Blue here, yes, Lance?” Allura asked, opening a small map of the galaxy on one of the screens. Her back was turned to him when he nodded, so Lance just responded with a quiet, “Yeah. Black should be here too.”

 

As if realizing she would need help, Shiro joined Coran at the front console and opened up his own maintenance windows. With a stiff nod, Allura turned back towards the group and waved a hand upward and into a spiraling motion. The small map on her screen grew to encompass the entire room, it showed off planets, stars, large Galra cruisers, asteroid and debris belts and everything in-between. On distant planets, there were three shining stars; red, green and bright yellow respectively. With a wave of her hand, she moved the green and red stars toward Pidge and Keith respectively. First, Allura pointed to Pidge, “The Green Lion is adventurous, inquisitive. Her pilot needs to be smart and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the green lion.”

 

Then, begrudgingly, she turned to Keith, who’s eyebrows were high on his forehead, “The red lion is temperamental, but volatile. His pilot needs to rely more on instinct, respond right away to danger,” She grit her teeth and hissed, “Keith, you will pilot the red lion.”

 

Pidge eyed the yellow star, “What about the yellow lion?” she asked, pointing to the Balmera it was seated on.

 

Looking back to her, Allura sighed, “We’ll have to go get him last, considering that you don’t appear to have anyone with you to match Yellow’s personality.” she looked between them, “Right? Or do you have another hidden person somewhere…?”

 

Shiro shook his head, “No, no one else came up with us.”

 

“Then, right now, we can fetch the red and green lion. Right now, Green is on a relatively peaceful planet, so it will be easy to return her to the castle.” Allura clapped her hands together, “Lance, will you take Pidge to the jungle planet, please? Keith, Shiro, stay here and help to make repairs.”

 

This decision made Keith grumble while Shiro just nodded in confirmation, “I will open a wormhole for you two to go to the planet.”

 

Lance shot her a thumbs up, “I hear ya, Sister.” Then he turned to Pidge and smiled, “Ready to go for a spin in Blue?”

 

Rubbing her previous bruises at the mention of it, her eyes skittered wildly in light fear, “Is it going to be like last time?”

 

Placing a hand over his heart, Lance fell into a bow, “I swear, it will not be. Prince’s honor.” Uncertain, Pidge rolled her eyes and tugged that the ends of her windbreaker, “I don’t think that’s a thing...”

 

“Well, now it is, come on!” Then he grabbed her hand, and dragged her down towards the blue lion’s hangar, as the cameras following them pointed out quite clearly. (It was hard to miss a small green teenager and a blue-cloaked Altean practically flying down the hallways. Especially since the small girl was yelling at the Altean to let her go.)

 

Allura almost laughed at the sight, it was refreshing, seeing her brother smiling and laughing. Back on Altea, those last few days they spent there, Lance never smiled. He was too tired and drained from training to pilot Blue. “You look happy, Princess.” Coran said from in front of her. She sighed and crossed her arms, content, “Just happy to have everyone back.”

 

Humming in agreement, Coran raised his hands as a large screen popped up in front of him. Mainly, it was Lance at the blue lion’s controls and clutching onto his seat, already looking a bit scared, was Pidge. In the corner was a small video of Blue’s hangar, “Be back soon, I’ll only be able to keep this wormhole open for a little less than a varga.”

 

Lance chuckled, “Oh please! It will take us less than 20 dobashes!” Leaning back on her heels, Allura smiled towards the screen her brother was on and almost laughed at the face Pidge was making. Her mouth was moving in tight motions, Allura was barely able to make out, “ _Varga? Dobashes? What?_ ”

 

Closing her eyes, Allura focused all she could to open a wormhole and at Lance’s cheer of, “See ya soon, Allura!” she knew that she successfully opened it.

 

Worrying her bottom lip, Allura clutched her hands together in front of her mouth, “ _Please_ come back safe.”

 

Peeking over his shoulder, Shiro smiled at her, “Don’t worry, Princess, they’ll come back perfectly fine.” Allura nodded and sucked in a deep breath, “Okay, you’re...you’re right.”

 

Behind her, Keith huffed, “What do you need me to do?” With a sour expression, Allura turned to him, “Do you know how to run a ship diagnostic?”

 

“Of course.” he glared at her and looked away, but after a moment, looked back, “This is similar to a Galra ship, right?”

 

Nose scrunching up, as if disgusted by the idea, she shook her head, “Of course not!” Both of their heads whipped away from eye contact, “I’ll help you, Keith.” Shiro called, closing his screens and jogging up to the young Galra.

 

Allura huffed and turned back to concentrate on keeping the wormhole open, Coran was nervously looking over his shoulder at the Princess, a worrying loop running it’s laps into his brain. _Is this going to end well?_

 

2

 

The trip through the wormhole was disorientating and once they got out the opposite side, Pidge wasn’t feeling the best. Lance just laughed and handed her a bag, “Most Alteans are vomiting their guts out at this point, congratulations.”

 

Leaning against Blue, Pidge glared up at him, “Wow, thanks. Real happy I have this honor.”

 

With a slightly sympathetic look, he pat her back and helped straighten her out, “You can rest when we get back.” After a quick nod, Lance began surveying the area. His face contorted strangely after he didn’t catch any signs of the green lion.

 

“Hey, Pidge,” she hummed to show she was listening, hand gripping her stomach, “You feel anything?” Pidge raised a brow at him, “Elaborate?” she asked quietly.

 

His hands mimicked a pulling motion and he chewed his lip, “Like a...Pull...towards something.” With a mix between a sigh and a groan, Pidge shook her head, “Not exactly, no.”

 

But she did, it was slight, and more of a feeling of where she needed to be, but it was there. Like she was out past curfew and she was supposed to be home two hours ago. Pidge just didn’t know if that was the feeling that Lance was talking about. Nausea subsiding, Pidge silently thanked Blue for being a glorified arm rest and moved to stand next to Lance, “Think anything lives here?” she leaned back on her heels and smiled up at him. Placing his thumb and forefinger on his chin, Lance thought about it for a moment, “Definitely. But I don’t think we’d be able to talk to them.”

 

In the distance, there was a mountain that Pidge’s eyes felt drawn to. Specifically the foot of the mountain. But separating them and the mountain was a thick jungle. Just by looking at the thick trees they could tell that it wouldn’t be easy to reach the foot of the mountain. She crossed her arms and glared at the mountain, deep in thought. Pidge’s staring must’ve caught Lance’s attention because he looked over at the mountains she was staring at, “Over there?” he asked, to which she nodded slowly.

 

“I think.” Pidge whispered, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, “ _Come on, where_ are _you_?” she thought.

 

Then, flashes behind her eyelids. A river. A temple. A raft with the head of a lion. A sloth looking… thing. Pidge hummed in thanks and listened to the area around her. The gentle purring of Blue was in the corner of her mind, it was encouraging.

 

Just barely, Pidge could hear running water. Was that a river? Opening her eyes, Pidge turned to Lance, who was staring at her curiously, “There’s a river, a little ways away from here.” she pointed in the general direction of it, “I think it’ll led us to the green lion.”

 

“Gotcha. Onward!” He shouted then laughed as Pidge led him to where the river was.

 

The shore they approached was sand, dirt, and gravel, which Pidge supposed was lucky because every other area on the border of the river was made of large, sharp rocks. On the bottom of shore, next to the pair was a wooden canoe. Squatting down next to it, she brushed her fingers over the smooth wood and looked back at Lance, “Maybe we take this?”

 

Suddenly, there was a clicking sound and Pidge jumped backwards, towards Lance, who was more than happy to hold her close in a slightly guarded position. The sloth thing didn’t appear to be offended in any way, and it even seemed to find some amusement at Pidge’s fear.

 

“Um, hello?” Lance said, tilting a brow at the alien.

 

Seeming to understand what he said, the alien chortled again and waved them over to the canoe sitting against the sandy shore. Pidge glanced up at Lance, then pulled away, brushing invisible dust off herself and following the sloth thing to the canoe. The thing stood at the head of the canoe and waited for Pidge and Lance to get into the canoe.

 

Placing a hand on the edge, Pidge launched herself over the edge and sat down behind the sloth thing. While Lance just stepped over the side and sat down behind Pidge. With a pleased huff, the alien pushed off and started their way down the river.

 

The river led them through the thickest part of the jungle. Pidge looked around with a childlike wonder as several different aliens peeked out from behind the trees, foliage and vines. Laughing, Lance just watched her excitedly whip around, sometimes peeking at the beings. They were cute.

 

Below the canoe, the water was crystal clear and it was first Lance who saw the carvings on the rocks surrounding them. He quickly pointed them out to Pidge, who smiled at him, then leaned over the edge of the canoe and reached into the water, fingers just barely skimming the surface. It gave her goosebumps, the water was freezing.

 

Pidge’s fingers must’ve brushed a carving because each and every carving began lighting up a bright lime green. If Lance thought her eyes were sparkling then, now they were lighting up like firecrackers at midnight, “ _How does that even work?_ ” she whispered.

 

Lance raised a brow at her, “I’ll tell ya later, if you really wanna know.” With a large smile, Pidge turned towards him, “Really?!” then she cleared her throat, “Seriously? That’d be cool.”

 

He laughed as a large temple came into view, this immediately caught Pidge’s attention, “Looks kind of like the front of a ziggurat...” she muttered, looking over the building.

 

“A what now?” Lance asked, giving her a look.

 

“You know, a ziggurat. From Mesopo- Nevermind, you don’t know Earth history.” she said, pouting slightly. “Then you’ll have to teach me.” he said as Pidge clambered out of the canoe. Looking over her shoulder, Pidge said to him, “I’ll have to do that.”

 

Then she strolled up to the ziggurat looking temple, observing the vines wrapping up the building. Each one was thick and could definitely hold her weight to where climb up to where the only entrance was (At least, what looked to be the only entrance)

 

With a sigh, Pidge gripped the first vine and slowly made her way up. At one point, around the middle of the climb, a thin vine under her foot snapped and she was left dangling for a minute until Pidge swung her body to dig her heels into a thicker vine and shimmied her way to the side to straighten out her body, then began the climb again.

 

Once Pidge crested the top of the temple, she looked down into an opening. A bright green light was shining from the inside of the ziggurat. With a smirk, Pidge leaped into the temple. The lion’s field fell away and it’s head turned up towards her. As if swallowing the girl, the lion opened it’s maw and Pidge slipped inside. Sitting in the pilot’s seat, she brought Green through the top of the temple. Lance sat outside, happy and slightly proud when she broke through the top.

 

Tugging on his helmet, Lance looked up to Green, who was floating above the temple. Pidge’s voice crackled to life over Green’s comm systems, “Heck yes!” she shouted and Lance could practically see her arms moving up and down excitedly.

 

In the corner of his eye, Lance saw a tiny green square light up beside a blue one, “It’s great to see Green up and running again.” he sighed, smiling.

 

 

Keith was crouched next to Shiro, who held an Altean tablet. They were in the very middle of the ship, trying to fix the main power. Peeking at the younger Galra next to him, Shiro sighed, “I’m sorry for Allura. Galra destroyed everything we once knew, there’s some…harsh feelings there.”

 

Keith huffed and pulled two wires together, considering there weren’t any sparks, he figured it was correct, “What gave you the impression I truly cared?”

 

“Your ears have been twitching nonstop, so either you’re nervous or bothered.” Shiro swiped a listing off the checklist Allura had given him earlier.

 

As if realizing he was doing it, Keith pushed his ears forward and glared down at the control panel. When he connected two other wires, there were sparks that made him flinch backwards. Hastily jerking the wires away, he pulled away and glared up at Shiro, “Are you going to help?”

 

Squatting down next to him, Shiro handed off the tablet and waved Keith away. With a huff, Keith straightened himself and looked down at the tablet, “This is in _Altean_.” he hissed.

 

With a groan, Shiro rolled his eyes, “There’s a button at the top that can translate it to Galran. I think.” Keith looked over the tablet, pressing random buttons until he came to a long list. Only recognizing three of the languages, he selected Galran and backed out. By the time he did this, the control panel Shiro was working up lit up and he swiped away the control panel listing.

 

Standing up, Shiro placed his hands on the panel and swiped to the right a few times until it came upon a blueprint of the castle ship. Multiple places lit up red and Shiro groaned, running a hand over his face. Opening up a comm feed, he spoke, agitated, “I’m sending up the damage reports now. Where do you need us?”

 

Allura’s face popped up in front of them. Without responding to them, they watched blue eyes sweep over the screens in front of her. Instead of Allura responding, it was Coran, “Well, you’re closest to the green lion’s hangar. If you could do a check around that area, then head over to Red’s.”

 

“Okay, I hear you,” Shiro glanced over at Keith, who had his hands on his hips, tablet hanging loosely from his fingers, “Red or Green, Keith?” he asked. Allura cleared her throat, “I don’t want him in a lion hangar alone.”

 

Keith scoffed at this and didn’t look at her on the screen, “I’ll get Green.”

 

“I don’t want you in-”

 

But he was already gone, following the map on the tablet to the lion’s hangar. Shiro scratched the back of his neck and sighed, “I’ll head over to Red’s hangar and do a scan.”

 

Allura stood there, scowling at what must be the castle’s security camera screens, “No, can you keep an eye on-”

 

Realizing what she was about to say, Shiro shook his head, “Princess, I don’t want to trust him no more than you do, but this is Pidge’s lion’s hangar. She trusts him, and you _are_ letting him pilot the red lion.”

 

Allura huffed and shifted her eyes to look at Shiro, “If the red lion even accepts him. If he finds anything untrustworthy in that _Galra,_ Red will drop him faster-”

 

“Okay, bye, Princess.” He quickly hit the red ‘ _end call_ ’ button on the control panel and gripped the edges of the panel in front of him. Kicking the hatch with the wires below the main panel, Shiro turned and went in the opposite direction of Keith so that he could quickly get to Red’s hangar.

 

There were three entrances to each of the lion’s hangars: the main exit the lions launch from, the line that the paladins enter their lions from and a set of large doors that lead you to the main hangar. It took Keith awhile to find these doors, considering they were labeled by hangar door one, two and three. The first door was the wire to gear up and quickly enter the lion, so Keith continued onto the second one. When the hall started to lead him outside, he turned on his heel and went back inside. It wasted so much time that Keith almost regretted not joining Shiro for this.

 

He finally made it to the main doors to the hangar. They were three times his size with a dulled green outline. Wasn’t the green supposed to be blue? Like the rest of the castle was?

 

When Keith initiallyapproached the doors, they didn’t open. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he looked around until his eyes landed on the camera in the corner above the hangar, “Allura, let me in. Do you want a damage report or not?”

 

“You’ll do more damage than good.” Her voice huffed over an intercom system.

 

Keith glared up at the camera, then turned around, only to be halted by the hissing of the hangar doors opening. Annoyance dripped from her voice as Allura’s voice crackled over the intercom again, “Guess she’s fine with you going into her hangar...”

 

Rolling his eyes, Keith sauntered into the hangar. The second his feet touched the ground inside, every light around the room lit up. Lights accenting the walls were lime green while the main lights were the usual blue. Taking a quick look over of the room, he didn’t see anything even relatively damaged. In the corner of the room was a control panel that was connected to the wall. Walking over to it, Keith placed a hand on it and activated it. Like the accents of the room, the panel lit up green.

 

Putting the tablet over the screen, all the words in Altean translated over to Galran. With a pleased smirk on his face, Keith pressed the button on the top right corner that said ‘ _Status Check_ ’ in smooth symbols. A blueprint of the hangar flashed on the screen, considering that there were no red areas anywhere in the hangar, he assumed that meant nothing was wrong. A large warning flashed onto the screen. Thinking he pressed a wrong button, Keith pulled away from the panel.

 

⚠️ _ **Green Lion Approaching Hangar**_

 

_**Vacate Immediately⚠️** _

 

The words flashed in an annoying green (Who decided to change it from red?) and after Keith scanned over the words, he quickly made his way out of the room. Once he passed the threshold of the doors, they snapped shut, the lock audibly sounded out being him.

 

The sounds of the green lion landing were muffled by the thick door, Keith could only vaguely here the resounding thump of Pidge touching down in the hangar. Once the metallic noises ceased from behind the wall, the door unlocked and slid open. On the other side of the door, was a very excited looking Pidge. A smile was practically animated onto her face and her posture was relaxed. Eyebrow jerking up, Keith smirked down at her, “Had fun in your lion?” he asked, a mix of curiosity and the want to keep that wide smile on her face.

 

The pair began walking towards the bridge, Pidge’s arms flying up in wild motions as she explained what it was like to fly a lion and how they found Green, “It’s like you have this deeper connection to them- it’s crazy weird. I suppose it has something to do with that quintessence stuff Lance was talking about on our way back. By the way, he’s real bad at explaining things, so don’t ask him about anything.” were some of the words among Pidge’s word vomit that Keith actually understood.

 

Sucking in a deep breath of air as they turned down the hallway entering the bridge, Pidge looked at him for a quick moment, “Did I miss anything while I was gone?” she hummed, straightening her back and fixing her face so it didn’t look so excited. (Pidge scoffed at him when he asked about this later, “Seriously? I felt so _childish_.”)

 

The doors slid open to reveal Allura standing in the center of room, a welcoming smile pointed at Pidge, “How was the first flight?”

 

Recoiling, Pidge’s face was dusted with a light pink, her bottom lip was being chewed up by her teeth, “It was great, what were your words, Pidge? ‘Exhilarating and motivational’?” Keith responded for her instead.

 

Pidge flashed him a slightly thankful look, while Allura shot him a dark look, “I do believe the green paladin can talk for herself, _Keith_.” she spat.

 

Hissing, Keith leaned forward, his ears perking straight up in defense, “You’re real bad at social cues, aren’t you?”

 

It was this moment that Shiro decided to walk into the bridge, Lance hot on his heels. Immediately, Shiro gulped and looked between the group inside the large room, “Everything alright in here?” he asked, a slight nervous tint staining his voice.

 

“Yeah,” Keith said, slightly relaxing, “Perfectly fine.”

 

The Galra and Altean settled glares at each other, “Guys, we’re gonna have to get along if this is going to work.” Shiro said, moving to stand next to Keith and Pidge. Lance stood by the door, worried that he would make the situation worse if he were to intervene.

 

Fixing her gaze onto Shiro, Allura sighed, “We have located the red lion.”

 

Smiling at her, Lance took a step forward, “That’s great!” But then, tilted his head when Allura’s and Coran’s faces fell, “What’s wrong?”

 

“The red lion is on a Galra ship.” Allura whispered, turning back to her controls. Instead, Coran approached the group.

 

Shoving a tablet into Shiro’s face, he pointed to a small planet on the edge of the solar system, “It’s on a ship orbiting the Balmera that the yellow lion is on! But,” he sighed and withdrew, pushing the tablet into Shiro’s hands when he tried to give it back, “We currently only have the blue and green lions. The Galra are aware we have the blue lion, but not that we have Green...”

 

“So, we retrieve the red lion, then go down to the Balmera to get the yellow lion.” Keith suggested, raising his arms in a questioning way, eyes skimming over every person in the room.

 

Glancing at him, Pidge shook her head, “It would end up being Lance and me against an entire Galra cruiser. Possibly even more if they call for reinforcements.” Lance nodded, looking over at his sister to make the final call.

 

It sounded like Keith was going to growl at her, but he didn’t, instead he crossed his arms, and huffed, “They won’t.”

 

“How do you know that?” Allura snapped.

 

“Victory or death. Killing stroke, Vrepit sa… There’s no honor if it’s a conjoined effort.”

 

Everyone stared at him, still antsy, “Listen, I’ve lived on a Galra cruiser since I was 14. I know how they work.”

 

“Was it a battle cruiser?” Shiro asked, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. With a soft glare, Keith shook his hand off, then nodded, “I’m technically trained to be a trooper.”

 

“Okay, then, Keith, how would we be able to retrieve the red lion?” Pidge asked, looking up at him. Not going to lie, it kind of bothered her being the shortest member of this team, but Pidge was used to being the shortest person in the room. At least Keith was close to her height and she wasn’t stuck with people feet taller than her.

 

Keith raised his palm, as if showing off something, “They would most likely keep the red lion in a well-protected cargo bay. Some place in the center of the ship.”

 

“So, a stealth mission?” Lance asked, tilting his head.

 

Nodding, Keith looked towards the Altean, “You can put it like that, but yeah. Lance, as a distraction, you’ll pretend to give up the blue lion to the ship that’s orbiting the Balmera.” Looking back towards Pidge, then nodding towards Shiro, “Pidge, Shiro and I will sneak on board the cruiser, get the red lion, then hightail it down to the Balmera.”

 

“Then?” Allura asked, looking like she was going to…agree with Keith?

 

“Ah,” Shiro snapped his fingers, “We find and bring the yellow lion back to the castle. Green can coerce Yellow here, right?”

 

“Blue could do it, Green can’t. Lance, can you...” Allura muttered, words quieting as Lance clicked his tongue and shot finger guns at her, “I gotcha.”

 

From there on, they carefully laid out their plans to retrieve the yellow and red lion, building up on what they already had, smoothing out the wrinkled parts of the plan. Eventually they pulled through and perfected their plan of attack.

 

Lance would approach the Galra ship and pretend to surrender his lion to distract them. Meanwhile, Shiro, Pidge and Keith would sneak aboard the ship and retrieve the red lion. After Red accepts Keith, they will fly down to the Balmera and seek shelter in the caves. While they’re under shelter, everyone will work together to retrieve the yellow lion and possibly his pilot.

 

“Alright team, you ready?” Shiro asked, eyes swiping over the teenagers in front of him.

 

With a large smile, Pidge crossed her arms and leaned back on her heels. Tilting his head, Keith shot him a small nod. Also wearing a large smile on his face, Lance pushed a thumbs up towards Shiro. With one last determined nod, Shiro turned and quickly led the paladins outside the bridge.

 

Blue leaped from his tower first, Green following close on his heels, uh- paws. Shiro and Lance were riding in Blue, Keith and Pidge inside Green.

 

“I’ll open a wormhole for you, be back soon.” Allura said, connecting the comm channels between Blue and Green.

 

The microphone crackled to life, “See you on the other side, Lance!” Pidge called, splitting away from the other lion.

 

“Cya, Shortstack!” he called back, laughing.

 

“You-!”

 

Lance slammed his finger down on the green button to cut off the communications from everyone except the castle. They were set in a rows of 2x3, from left to right it went purple, red, green, then below was a royal blue, yellow and a cyan blue.

 

He leaned back in his seat, hands softly gripping the controls, a small smile on his lips, “Smooth sailing from here.” Lance set his feet onto a smooth white panel without any controls.

 

His eyes were closed for a good few minutes, then he sighed and asked, “You think this is going to go well, Girl?”

 

No response.

 

“Yeah, me too.”


End file.
